PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 7 - In the rush to collect enough signatures to put Ralph Nader on the ballot in the swing state Pennsylvania, one father and son signed the petitions 60 times between them. Other names were paired with addresses that do not exist - unless, as a judge noted, they are in the middle of the Delaware River.
In four courtrooms in this city alone on Thursday, a team of judges tried to sort it all out, puzzling over hundreds names to determine whether Mr. Nader should appear on thousands of ballots waiting to be printed and sent out.
"I can't allow this dispute to disrupt an election throughout the entire commonwealth," the president judge of Commonwealth Court, James G. Colins, declared to a courtroom where he has been examining signatures for two weeks. "I'm getting calls from counties, from election officials and judges. We have to move along."
Ralph Nader's access to the ballot has been a hard-fought battle in state after state, with Republicans helping him in hopes that he will steal votes from John Kerry, and Democrats pulling out the stops to prevent that. But no effort has been as complicated and fraud-ridden as the one here, with judges across the state examining more than 40,000 signatures that challengers have said are forged or otherwise invalid.
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http://nytimes.com/2004/10/08/politics/campaign/08nader.html?hp&ex=1097208000&en=93cfdefedd460749&ei=5094&partner=homepage
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